Happy or unhappy, all families are a mystery. None more than the Cullens. Having escaped their clutches and moved across the water, Denny is just beginning to make a life for himself when a call from his sister brings him back to Dublin, city of his birth. Back to square one. As if squabbling siblings and unhelpful childhood friends weren't trouble enough, a ghost starts making appearances in the family home and Denny’s life starts to get a lot more complicated. Full of riotous laughter, wonderment and love found in the most unlikely places, Ghosts and Lightning is an exuberant tale of someone trying to do the right thing surrounded by the wrong choices. It is also a revealing chronicle of our times from an exceptional new Irish talent.
Ghosts and Lightning
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* Ghosts and Lightning is a powerful novel and Trevor Byrne is a very powerful writer. The narrator, Denny, and the others around him are great characters, often funny, sometimes frightening, always very human. I loved it. -- Roddy Doyle * This is an amazing book, written with force and passion. And Denny is a very funny and slightly demented tour guide to twenty-first century Dublin. A gripping and dark ride to the mad side of town, Ghosts and Lightning marks Byrne as a writer to get hooked on. -- Matt Haig * Ghosts and Lightning is engaging and funny. Trevor Byrne delivers an acute portrayal of loss in a story filled with warmth, humour and wonder. -- Catherine O'Flynn, Author Of What Was Lost * Byrne's voice crackles with energy and dark humour in a richly-evoked novel of Dublin family life. Irish Independent * Byrne is depicting a similar kind of urban underclass to the one Roddy Doyle has written about, with the same humour and attention to detail...Also in common with Doyle, Byrne does it without being patronizing or pitying. Scottish Review of Books 20090501 * Funny and entertaining, yet tinged with sadness and desperation ... there is much to applaud in Byrne's powerful debut. His writing is concise and unfussy, yet not without literary flourishes ... Judging by this poignant, compelling and often deeply comic tale of life on the margins of Irish society, Byrne seems certain to enjoy greater longevity than the Celtic tiger. Sunday Business Post 20090628 * Lurching, wisecracking, poignant and drunken ... engaging, exhuberant, hilarious ... Fans of Roddy Doyle will be agreeably entertained, while the semantically minded may be inclined to marvel at the numerous variations on the word "fuck". -- Catherine Taylor Guardian 20090627 * Trevor Byrne's first novel looks like the Irish debut we have been waiting for, a novel which could fill out our incomplete literary map of Ireland and allow southwest Dublin to take its place alongside Toibin's Enniscorthy, McCabe's Monaghan or Doyle's Northside. -- Barry McRea Irish Times 20090620
Book Description
Canongate brings you the next Roddy Doyle - an outstanding debut from a young Irish talent
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By C. O'Brien
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Although at first I found the Dublin dialect a little difficult to follow, I was glad I persevered with this lively and imaginative debut novel. Student Denny Cullen returns to his native Dublin after his mother's death and is pitched into a world of small-time crime, ancient echoes and everyday tragedies. Ghosts and lightning, we are told, cast no shadows - but the light and shade cast by half-hidden emotions and mythological resonances give real depth to this story of urban outsiders in search of escape. Not so much a plot as a series of memorable set-pieces: a bare-knuckle fight on a gypsy encampment, a drug-sozzled party, a camping trip in the mountains outside the city, a seance which attracts the voice of Cuchulainn. But it's a bright, satisfying read for all that - funny and sinister by turns, full of memorable characters, farcical moments and poignant insights. It owes more than a little to Irvine Welsh's Scottish classic "Trainspotting", but it has more heart, more depth and probably more compassion.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Russell Smith
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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There's not much of a 'story' here, but Ghosts and Lightning still feels like a book that will claw its way in to your consciousness and stay there for a long time.
The heart of the book is Denny, returning home following the death of his mother. It's perhaps not a hugely original starting point, but his thoughts are so well expressed that they will resonate with a lot of people in their twenties and thirties. The conflicting feelings about old friends - warmth, pity, frustration - are well written and seem based in personal experience.
Events in the book are episodic and meandering, with some more memorable than others, but manage to cover the whole spectrum of human emotion. In the end though, it's the tone of the book and the atmosphere that it creates that stay with you.
The heart of the book is Denny, returning home following the death of his mother. It's perhaps not a hugely original starting point, but his thoughts are so well expressed that they will resonate with a lot of people in their twenties and thirties. The conflicting feelings about old friends - warmth, pity, frustration - are well written and seem based in personal experience.
Events in the book are episodic and meandering, with some more memorable than others, but manage to cover the whole spectrum of human emotion. In the end though, it's the tone of the book and the atmosphere that it creates that stay with you.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Nicolette Laurence
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I really enjoyed this book. It is funny and sweet, but intelligent too. It is written mostly in the first person and as the author is Irish, it is written as it would be spoken - ie with phonic spelling of words spoken with an Irish accent. This made it slightly hard going, but no less enjoyable. I often devour books in two or three days, but this one took a little longer because I had to put it down more often - deciphering the text was sometimes a bit tiring! But overall, a really good read, an excellent storyline. I think the accent thing would make this an excellent audiobook. Lots of bad language, so steer clear if that offends you, but this book is worth putting up with it. It is very real and thought-provoking. A story about an individual, his family and friends, which would be a good read for someone looking for something intelligent but not too heavy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great service!
Arrived next morning even though I only ordered it the evening before. Book was great too, look forward to his next one.
Published 1 month ago by Donna
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Black Pool
I loved this book. Simple as that. Trevor Byrne is a highly skillful writer, good enough so's you don't really notice it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by DJK
2.0 out of 5 stars
I Must be missing something
I started this book after my wife kept telling me to read it, as she thought that as a Irish man i would understand it better. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Kevirish
5.0 out of 5 stars
Someone Film This!
Warm, funny, poignant and profound. The narrator, Denny Cullen, is an utterly convincing and extremely likeable guide to modern day Dublin, and the cast of supporting characters... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2010 by johnny_deformed
3.0 out of 5 stars
Accomplished first novel...
Written as part of an M Phil in Creative Writing, Ghosts & Lightning is the first novel of young Irish author Trevor Byrne. Read more
Published on 20 July 2010 by H. Albert
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deadly (In the Dublin Sense)
A really funny book with a heart of gold, a great pace, a smattering of mythic allusions and musings, and brilliantly evoked characters. Read more
Published on 17 July 2010 by Timrek the Gorf
3.0 out of 5 stars
An ok read
I had high hopes for this book with it being set in Dublin and found the use of an Irish dialect interesting. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2010 by D. Gibson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and Intelligent
On first sight, Trevor Byrne's debut novel Ghosts and Lightning is obviously strongly influenced by Roddy Doyle circa The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Leyla Sanai
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a great book!
This is a great book. Byrne's sharp and fast first-person narration has a fantastic pulse and Denny's a completely convincing and memorable character. The voice is pitch-perfect. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by RabidReader
1.0 out of 5 stars
Painful
If, like me, you find attempts to write in dialect excruciating, you won't get very far. I know it's an Irish thing but I can't stand it. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2010 by R. Munro
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